Katrina Boldry had plans to launch a new product, and her small business’ recent success gave her the money to do it.

But saddled with orders to fill for her dog leash and harness company, Bold Lead Designs, as well as a mountain of patent and marketing paperwork and hundreds of decisions to make, she said she was “paralyzed.”

The launch languished for more than a year.

Then she got a well-timed call: A group of MBA students — three from Michigan and one from California — were charting a cross-country trip. They’d go from Montana to Oregon and from Oregon to Aurora, spending a week with a small business at each stop. Bold Lead Designs would be one of them.

The team, which left Colorado for Detroit on Friday, is one of eight crisscrossing the country this summer, marking the first full run of MBAxAmerica, an organization that aims to connect second-year MBA students with small-business owners.

The organization was born of a similar trip that Casey Gerald and three of his Harvard classmates took last summer, which included a stop in Boulder. They wanted to give a boost to companies that were making a difference outside traditional business hubs, he said.

“It started … not as an idea for an organization but an idea for our lives,” said Gerald, who graduated from Harvard Business School in May and now runs MBAxAmerica. “What could we do not just to make a buck, but to make a difference?”

The student groups “scoured” the country looking for entrepreneurial businesses with a positive impact, growth potential and a compelling story, before settling on a group of 48, Gerald said.

Boldry and Bold Lead Design fit the bill.

The company specializes in making high-quality leather leashes and harnesses for service dogs. With money to invest, Boldry is eyeing a move toward a broader audience.

The business was founded in 2008, when Boldry was raising a service dog and couldn’t find a leash she liked.

She designed her own and began making them for others. Business has boomed. Last month, Boldry hired two full-time workers.
Now, she’s eyeing a bigger workshop.

Helping Boldry navigate the logistics of a consumer product launch with only a week to help was challenging, said Nydia Cardenas, who’s entering her second year in the University of Michigan’s MBA program.

But while there’s still lots of work to do, Boldry said the group helped her chart a course for how to market, apply for a patent and vie for shelf space at big-name chains.

Their expertise made the launch of a leash and no-pull collar combination more approachable, she said. She hopes local shops will be stocking the new rig in a few months.

“They called at the right time,” Boldry said.

For their part, Cardenas and Kory Vargas Caro, a University of California-Berkeley student, say that three weeks into their six-week consulting road trip, it’s shifted their outlooks.

Cardenas said she’s learned not to apply cookie-cutter case studies to clients; instead, she listens to their needs and stories. Vargas Caro said he’s now considering starting a small business of his own.

“Our inaugural trip changed our lives forever,” Gerald said of his 2013 trip. “It showed us that there was really a hunger and a great opportunity to turn our journey into a movement.”

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